The Calico Dome, also known as Calico-shop Dome, was a

geodesic dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic dom ...

on Relief Road,

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

, Gujarat, India. Designed by

Gira Sarabhai Gira Sarabhai (11 December 1923 – 15 July 2021) was an Indian architect, designer, and a design pedagogue. She was born into the Sarabhai family and was the youngest of eight siblings. She is known for contributing to several industrial and e ...

and

Gautam Sarabhai Gautam Sarabhai (4 March 1917 – 28 August 1995) was an industrialist and businessman from the Sarabhai family of Ahmedabad. Birth Gautam was born to industrialist Seth Ambalal Sarabhai and Sarladevi on 4 March 1917. He was the fifth child an ...

, with an inspiration from

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...

's works, it was a combined showroom and shop for

Calico Mills The Calico Mills, officially Ahmedabad Manufacturing and Calico Printing Mills Ltd and M/S ILAC Ltd, was one of the earliest textile mills established in Ahmedabad, India by Sarabhai family. Established in 1888, it closed in 1998. The land, pla ...

. It was inaugurated in 1963 and fell into disrepair when mills was closed in 1990s. It later collapsed. , it is being reconstructed by the

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation The Amdavad Municipal Corporation, or the AMC, established in July 1950 under the Bombay Provincial Corporation Act (1949), is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Ahmedabad. History On 21 April 1831, the ...

as an industrial heritage site.

History

American architect,

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

created a design for an administrative office for Calico Mills in 1950s, but it was not constructed as

(AMC) did not give permission due to prevailing building codes. Later on the same site, the Calico Dome was constructed. By the time Wright's design was rejected in early 1950s, the basement for the building was already excavated. Siblings Gautam and

and their team designed the Calico Dome in 1963, inspired by

s. The dome housed the showroom and shop for Calico Mills. The first fashion show in Ahmedabad was organised in the Dome. Indian actress

Parveen Babi Parveen Babi (4 April 1954 – 20 January 2005) was an Indian actress and model. Recognized for her roles in Hindi films throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Babi was known for her "glamorous" acting style, and was one of the highest-paid ...

took part in shows in the 1970s when she was a student. The mills and shops closed in the 1990s and the dome went into disrepair. In the 2001 earthquake, the centre of the dome collapsed and heavy rains damaged the interior of the underground shop. Later the dome collapsed completely. On liquidation of Calico Mills, the AMC bought it as the industrial heritage property in 2006.

Architecture

The Calico Dome employed two simple structural systems: the

and the space frame. The dome was lifted by eight curved iron struts. It was a five pointed dome instead of six or eight, as generally seen. The points were supported by steel pillars and tubes. The canopy of the dome was built by diamond-shaped bent plywood blanks joined by steel studs. The dome, spread over 12 square metres, covered an open air platform which can be used for displays and fashion shows. The platform was supported by steel frames which were left open at the margins of the platform for the natural light in the underground shop. The underground shop cum showroom was a single square room. Gautam did the engineering whereas Gira did the detailing of the dome. It is known to be the first space frame structure in India. A pair of embossed steel lotuses flank the steps leading to the platform. Similar lotuses are found in the

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

s of the 15th-century mosques and gates of the city as well as in the Sarabhai's house 'Retreat' which were added by

Surendranath Kar Surendranath Kar (5 March 1892– 2 August 1970) was an Indian artist and architect, known for amalgamating the Indian architectural style with western and eastern styles of architecture. Born in 1892 in British India, Kar did his primary learnin ...

in 1930s. These auspicious lotus symbols invoke welcome gesture. On one side of the dome, a thin brick wall in Flemish bond was erected. A steel logo sign "Cali-Shop" in an abstracted font inspired by the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

style projected out from the wall from bottom to top.

Restoration

In 2010, the

High Court of Gujarat The Gujarat High Court is the High Courts of India, High Court of the Indian state, state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State. The seat o ...

had asked the AMC to restore the dome in a year. The AMC planned to restore the structure in two phases, first the basement at a cost of and then the dome at 60–07 lakh. It will cost 120–150 lakh in total. The CEPT was roped in for suggestions. In January 2013, its restoration of base (Phase I) started, which was completed in fifteen months. The consultant architect Hiren Gandhi, appointed by the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) of AMC, had proposed to replace the dome with new modern geodesic dome. The HCC rejected his plan and appointed Vadodara Design Academy (VDA) as a new consultant. VDA submitted a detailed report in November 2017. The restoration has remained incomplete as of August 2019.

References

{{Ahmedabad topics , state=collapsed Geodesic domes Tourist attractions in Ahmedabad 1962 establishments in Gujarat Buildings and structures in Ahmedabad Modernist architecture in India Collapsed buildings in India